When Nataliia Karpenko speaks by phone with associates in Ukraine, it’s for business. But the San Rafael resident can’t start a conversation without first asking about the political crisis in her native country.

The small talk would focus on the Ukrainian Revolution — up until a week ago, when Russian military forces swarmed the sovereign nation’s Crimea Peninsula.

“It’s something I definitely respect and must mention,” Karpenko said. “I ask, ‘what is going on, is your family safe?’ It’s something that you just can’t not mention.”

It’s as much a courtesy to her associates as it is a curiosity about the country she left more than three years ago.

Karpenko, who is involved in several tech startups and doubles as an art dealer, said that reality didn’t set in immediately for people living in Ukraine, including her parents, due to sketchy media reports and a reluctance to believe their country was being invaded.

When news first broke in the U.S. of Russia’s actions, “I was talking to my parents, and they just don’t want to believe it. They said, ‘why do you want to bring this panic to us?'”

Marin County is not known for having a large Ukrainian presence. But for the Ukrainian ex-pats living here, emotions are swirling as they celebrate the political revolution but decry Russia’s meddling.

“Everyone has a different explanation (for why Russia sent troops to Crimea), but everyone agrees it was an invasion from the country that used to be our friendly neighbor for many years,” said George Tyapko of Mill Valley.

Tyapko, a pastor at St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church in San Francisco, said Russia’s siege of Crimea took the Ukrainian people off guard, since the two countries have been friendly since the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Everything is good in Central Ukraine,” Tyapko said. “We got a new government, there will be an election in a couple months. People are really happy that it was possible to change this system, this government. The only place where there is a problem is Crimea.”

Karpenko and Tyapko, who do not know each other, said they both have visited Crimea multiple times. Tyapko described it as the Florida of Ukraine — a warm place with lots of beaches, where the retired move to live out their lives.

While most of Ukraine remains free from Russian occupation, Tyapko, who came to the United States a decade ago at age 35, spoke of Ukraine’s willingness to defend its land if matters escalate. He said he has three brothers back home who are willing to join the military if war were to break out.

“Everybody prays for the peace,” Tyapko said. “But if necessary, we are ready to fight.”

For now, the United States and European Union are trying to dissuade Russia from continuing its Crimea occupation — or possibly any further expansions — through various punitive measures. That gives Karpenko some relief that the situation won’t escalate.

“I do worry a lot,” Karpenko said. “But I feel a lot more positive about the situation now that the European Union and the United States is putting that pressure on Russia. It allows Ukraine to breathe better.”

Tyapko shares a similar sentiment, saying that, in the long run, Russia’s standing in the world will dip, while its economy and relationship with Ukraine will suffer.

“In this situation, Russia loses more than she wants to get from this situation,” Tyapko said.

But Myron Mikus, who is of Ukrainian descent, said Russia is acting as much out of an old compulsion — that goes back to the Soviet Union and before — as it is out of its own economic and political interests.

“Imperialism is in Russia’s nature,” Mikus said.

Mikus, who lives in Monterey now, spent 16 years in Novato, selling jewelry at Hamilton Air Force Base. He was born in Germany, where his parents were forced into labor after Nazi forces captured Ukraine during World War II.

Since Europe is dependent on Russia’s natural gas supply, Russia knows the West won’t push back too much at the risk of losing access to one of its main fuel sources.

“That’s why Europe didn’t do anything (militarily). The Russians know nothing will be done,” Mikus said. “The natural gas isn’t controlled by the free enterprise; it’s controlled by the oligarchy, the ruling class in Russia. It’s a stranglehold. Everyone in power of natural resources is going to use (that power).”

Confounding the situation, Mikus said, is the presence of the native Crimean Tatars, a Muslim minority that was expelled from Crimea by Josef Stalin, then later returned en masse during the Perestroika in the 1980s. With a Tatar separatist movement possibly stirring, and Russia’s history of mistreating ethnic minorities, Mikus said the occupation could have something to do with Russia’s desire to keep the Tatars at bay.

“It goes back to when Stalin came into power,” Mikus said. “They were depopulating all these nations and resettling them with the Russians. And now they’re saying these are our countries.”

Whatever Russia’s motivations, locals with Ukrainian ties are eager to see the situation resolved, so that their home country can return continue with the momentum gained from its recent revolution, rather than brace for more Russian incursions.

“It is a difficult situation,” Tyapko said, “but we will see what happens. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”